Capital Datang

On May 28, the 29th year of Zhenguan, Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty passed away due to illness in Ganlu Hall at the age of 57. He reigned for 28 years and was named Taizong.It is worth mentioning that on the third day after Li Shimin's death, Empress Changsun, who had been lingering on the sick bed, followed him, and the two were buried together in Zhaoling.

On the day after Li Shimin's death, Li Zhi, with the support of his ministers and the witness of Li Ke, Li Min and others, ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in the Taiji Hall, becoming the third emperor of the Tang Dynasty. The reign name of Zhenguan was changed to "Yonghui" the following year.

After Li Zhi ascended the throne, he immediately carried out all-round reforms to Datang, the main of which was to standardize legislation, crack down on tyrants, and put everyone under the deterrence of the law.In addition, Li Zhi also ordered people to formulate the "Commercial Law", which stipulated the rights and obligations of buyers and sellers in commercial behavior, with the purpose of providing a relatively fair competition environment for domestic industry and commerce.

In addition, Li Zhi also vigorously improved the social status of businessmen and workers through public opinion tools such as laws and newspapers, and at the same time relaxed some domestic controls on various aspects to improve the freedom of the people.In terms of agriculture, they also vigorously learned from Daqi. Huge farms were built in various places. In addition to using Han people for management, other simple agricultural labor used slaves. Some farms even introduced steam engines, which greatly saved labor costs and so on.

These series of measures actually have only one purpose, which is to improve the domestic industrial and commercial environment of Datang, so that domestic industrial and commercial people can stay in Datang with peace of mind, instead of going to Daqi for various reasons, causing a large loss of domestic capital, or even The situation of retrogression in industry and commerce has been changed.

All reforms were very difficult from the very beginning, even if Li Zhi, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, personally promoted it, it was still the same. The diehards represented by the aristocratic tyrants who accumulated a lot of wealth by virtue of their privileges saw their own interests. Being deprived, a fierce resistance was naturally launched. Every day in the court, a group of ministers wrote to Li Zhi to put pressure on him, wanting him to take back his order.

But Li Zhi's determination was obviously beyond everyone's imagination, and he not only withstood this pressure.He even took the opportunity to kill several diehard figures in the name of forming a party for personal gain, and even Changsun Wuji, who had been keeping calm, was also involved. Li Zhi took half of the prime minister power in his hand. The three new aristocrats in Li Yi's mansion were all eyeing the position of Changsun Wuji.

Changsun Wuji originally considered Li Zhi's character flaws, thinking that he would not be able to withstand the pressure of the court and shrink back, but he did not expect that Li Zhi's performance far exceeded his expectations.This made Changsun Wuji's last extravagant hope come to naught, coupled with Li Yin's previous persuasion.As well as Changsun Chong's influence on him, in the end, after half a year of weighing, Changsun Wuji finally proposed to Li Zhi to resign, and Li Zhi immediately approved it.

Changsun Wuji is a big banner of the diehards, and now even this banner has fallen, which has greatly damaged the vitality of the diehards, and the resistance to reform has been greatly reduced immediately. Choose to surrender to Li Zhi.In exchange for their own security.

At the same time that Li Zhi was carrying out reforms in the Tang Dynasty, Li Ke, Li Yin, Li Yun, and Li Zhen participated in the funerals of Li Shimin and Empress Changsun, and they also chose to return home. Among them, Li Yin, Li Yun, Li Zhensan People haven't made any big moves yet, and they are mainly focusing on domestic development. In addition, they also pay attention to the reform of Datang. If Li Zhi encounters any problems that cannot be solved.They will also come forward to help solve it.

In contrast, Li Ke was much more busy. He and Irina lived in Chang'an for a period of time. They didn't return to Rome by boat until after Irina's child was born.At this time, Li Ke finally had time to start integrating Rome and Daqi. During this period, he also vigorously rectified the atmosphere in Rome, strengthened the communication between Rome and Datang, and so on.

Three years later.Li Ke's filial piety expired, and at the same time he also firmly controlled Rome.Until then, Irina and Li Ke held a grand wedding as they wished. Brothers Li Yin, Li Yun, Li Zhen, and princesses Qinghe, Gao Yang, and Sizi also rushed to Rome to attend Li Ke's wedding ceremony. Wedding with Irina.

Just after the wedding, Irina finally passed on the seat of Roman emperor to Li Ke in a legitimate manner.Li Ke, who became the emperor of Qi and Rome, immediately merged the two countries.Changed its name to the Mediterranean Empire, and imitated Li Yin's Daqi, and began to vigorously develop maritime trade and the navy, and soon defeated the navy that Dashi had just developed in the Mediterranean, and firmly secured its position as the overlord of the Mediterranean.

However, Li Ke was not satisfied with this. Although Dashi in the south was defeated at sea, Dashi's army is still strong. Li Ke needs to pay a considerable price to recover the original homeland of the Roman Empire. I plan to go to Dashi.What's more, Dashi is now surrounded by land from the three kingdoms of Tang, Tianzhu and Rome, and the only sea route is cut off by Li Yin. People are useless.

After giving up the hard bone of Dashi, Li Ke turned to develop in the direction of Europe. He first advanced by land and sea, and soon conquered the Lombard Kingdom on the Balkan Peninsula, making the city of Rome, which had been lost to the barbarians for nearly 200 years. Returned to the hands of the Romans again, but this time the conquerors should be called Mediterraneans.

After regaining the Balkan Peninsula, Li Ke finally connected the original Eastern Empire and Daqi's territory into one piece, and the transportation of the entire empire became more convenient.Moreover, Li Ke did not stop himself because of this. He began to lead the original Romans and his Han army to launch a counterattack against the northern barbarians. With the help of superior troops and advanced weapons, the northern barbarians were not at all The opponents of the Mediterranean Empire were wiped out one by one, and countless barbarian prisoners of war were reduced to new white slaves, which also greatly promoted the development of slavery in the Mediterranean Empire.

But soon Li Ke met a strong opponent, that is, the Frankish kingdom in the period of the Merovingian dynasty. At this time, the Frankish kingdom was in the early stage of the Pepin era. The Imperial Power Faction and the Palace Faction are fighting endlessly, and violent conflicts will break out from time to time.

Although the Kingdom of Frankish was fighting endlessly, it was the most powerful kingdom of the barbarians after all, and its land area was not much smaller than that of the Mediterranean Empire. Therefore, when facing this powerful enemy, Li Ke also changed his strategy. To give Li Shimin the solution to Goguryeo, he sent elite troops into the interior of the Frankish Kingdom to carry out an endless harassment war. As a result, it took several years to drag the Frankish Kingdom to the Jedi, and the entire kingdom collapsed. At this time, Li Ke easily occupied The vast territory of the Frankish Kingdom.

The demise of the Frankish Kingdom made the Mediterranean Empire finally eliminate the confidant of the north, and the country also ushered in a relatively stable development period, especially with the strengthening of exchanges with Datang and Daqi, more and more Han people are willing to come to the Mediterranean The development of the empire caused the proportion of Han people in Li Ke's country to rise in a straight line, which in turn increased Li Ke's rule over the empire.

Perhaps seeing Li Ke's extraordinary front in Europe, Daqi and Tianzhu, who had been dormant for several years, also started their own journey of conquest. Among them, Li Yin chose America as his goal. After these years of development, he has already achieved Nearly 50 Han Chinese immigrated from Central America, and there were also nearly a million native Americans who joined them. Therefore, based on these people, Li Min formally included Central America into the territory of Daqi, and at the same time began to station troops and expand outwards. All Americans who were unwilling to submit were included in the conquest.

Compared with Li Yin's American conquest, Li Yun and Li Zhen also started Tianzhu's African strategy. Tianzhu's military development is more inclined to the army. The war was still very easy. With the support of naval warships, Tianzhu sent 30 troops to Africa, mainly composed of Tianzhu people.

This army did not land at Cape Harfon, which was occupied by Tianzhu and Daqi, but chose to land at the southernmost tip of Africa. This is mainly because Li Yin told Li Zhen and Li Yun that under the fertile land in South Africa , is rich in various minerals such as gold, iron, copper, diamonds, etc. Occupying it there is equivalent to having an endless treasure house in Tianzhu.

It is precisely because of Li Yin's guidance that Li Yun and Li Zhen's invasion of Africa is mainly to plunder mineral deposits, especially the huge gold reserves in South Africa, which is their main goal, but they want to mine mineral deposits. Naturally, a large number of miners are needed, which directly led to the extremely developed slave trade in South Africa. Countless slaves from the Mediterranean Empire, Daqi and other places were transported here, and then became dead bones in various mining accidents or diseases.Hundreds of years later, South Africa has an alias, that is, the "miner's grave". There are so many miners who died on this land that it is impossible to count them.

In the tenth year after Li Shimin's death, Li Zhi's reforms in the Tang Dynasty finally achieved initial results. After several years of stagnation, the industry and commerce in the Tang Dynasty finally rejuvenated and started a new round of development. Industries such as textiles, iron and steel, and porcelain are developing rapidly, and have even begun to catch up with Daqi in a short period of time.

The businessmen who had settled down in Daqi saw the changes in Datang, and returned to their hometowns to build factories one after another, which further promoted the development of industry and commerce in Datang. There was even a return wave in Datang, and the people who had settled in Daqi began to return to their hometowns. Living, after all, for the Han people, returning to their roots has been carved into their bones. Even if the conditions in their hometowns are poorer, they are more willing to return to their hometowns to live.

However, just as Li Shimin predicted before his death, in the process of the development of the four great empires of Tang, Daqi, Tianzhu and the Mediterranean, some frictions, large and small, inevitably appeared between countries! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. )